Ford has shown off a self-driving car of its own, though the automatically parking prototype – which can also avoid running down pedestrians – isn’t expected to arrive on US roads any time soon. The new “obstacle avoidance” systems build on Ford’s existing parking assist, but where that commercial system demands drivers be both behind […]
President Obama said he won’t negotiate with Republican hostage takers — first he wants a proof-of-life showing the government’s credit holding that day’s USA Today. Lawmakers are being forced to reuse towels in the congressional gym, a development that will absolutely ruin their selfies. And John Boehner thinks Democrats are being unreasonable. We’ll see how he feels when all this happens again in 2019 with President Christie, House Speaker Hoyer, and Majority Leader Cruz. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, October 8th, 2013:
OBAMA STANDS GROUND, WON’T ‘PAY RANSOM’ – Luke Johnson: President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he is willing to negotiate with Republicans over health care or any other topic, but only after Congress passes a short-term government funding measure and increases the debt limit. ‘What I’ve said is that I will talk about anything,’ he said, after declaring in his opening statement, ‘We can’t make extortion routine as part of our democracy.’ Obama said that the United States could not afford to deal with ‘manufactured crises’ over funding the government and paying its existing obligations. ‘Think about it this way: The American people do not get to demand a ransom for doing their jobs,’ he said. ‘You don’t get a chance to call your bank and say I’m not going to pay my mortgage this month unless you throw in a new car and an Xbox.‘ Obama also pointed out that the shutdown had occurred as a result of Republicans’ strong opposition to the health care law he passed. ‘The way we got to this point was one thing and one thing only: this Republican obsession with dismantling the Affordable Care Act,’ he said. ‘Most Americans — Democrats and Republicans — agree that health care should not have anything to do with keeping our government open or paying our bills on time.'” [HuffPost]
OH GOD THE SYMBOLISM
One of the great tragedies of ancient history, memorialized in myths and Hollywood film, is the burning of the great library at Alexandria. But the reality of the Library’s end was actually a lot less pyrotechnic than that. A major cause of the Library’s ruin was government budget cuts.
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Garmin has almost everyone covered in the watch category: runners, hikers, swimmers, even golfers have their own wrist-worn devices from the consumer GPS pioneer. Now pilots can be added to the growling list of people with their own specialty Garmin wearable. The D2 Pilot Watch includes all the …
If your recycling bin overfloweth with empty plastic water bottles and you’re just too lazy to take them to the curb, why not turn them from an eyesore into a lovely centerpiece with this 3D-printed web of bottlecaps? All you need to do is scrounge up twelve similarly sized bottles and you’ve got yourself a one-of-a-kind vase
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The 1920s was a thrilling decade for aviation. Daredevils were just beginning to hop across the Atlantic, and at least one airline was even experimenting with in-flight entertainment.
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The ShopThis initiative makes it easier than ever to buy on a whim.
(Credit: MasterCard)
Shoppers, rejoice: Next time you’re browsing the iPad edition of Wired magazine, you’ll be able to buy even more impulsively than before.
The mag is rolling out a feature from MasterCard that lets you instantly purchase products in articles or ads without leaving the page on your tablet.
The credit card company is pushing ShopThis in conjunction with publisher Conde Nast to help readers indulge their whims simply by tapping a shopping cart icon.
The so-called “in-content purchasing” kicks off with Wired’s November iOS tablet edition, available October 15, MasterCard announced at World Retail Congress 2013 in Paris.
The process works with MasterCard’s … [Read more]
Related Links:
Send money with Google Wallet on Android and iOS
Get 3 months of unlimited iPad magazines for free
Google Wallet moves past NFC to support all Android phones
Facebook wants to make mobile payments easier with ‘Autofill’
What Amazon should do: Think different. Be more like Apple
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In the lead-up to Litquake, the annual city-wide literary festival that kicks off this Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle just launched a seriously impressive online map marking some of the Bay Area’s most iconic moments in print.
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Think of this as IMDb baked into your Google search. Today, everyone’s favorite Search giant from Mountain View announced that users seeking information about their favorite shows, or those just curious about specific series, will now find detailed episode listings within their results. The added …
Nielsen, the ratings monitoring service that gives networks the ammo to charge exorbitant prices for commercials, released their first "Twitter TV ratings"—ratings metrics that take into account social-media activity—this Monday.
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